September has arrived, and so too has the new school year. For many schools, students, and staff, it’s business as usual. For others, such as those who have moved from elementary to secondary, there is the excitement of that first day at a different school, a different building, or a different classroom. All of that energy is part of the annual ritual of the back-to-school process, something that takes place across the state and country this time of year.

Students and staff in one local school district, the Twin Valley schools, have even more change to process. Elementary school students from Wilmington and Whitingham will soon be stepping into a rebuilt and renewed building, one that was formerly known as Deerfield Valley Elementary School, now renamed Twin Valley ES. But for them, the excitement hasn’t quite sunk in yet, as the school is still a week away from opening. It’s not hard to imagine the twofold excitement for students at TVES, first, from getting a couple of extra weeks of summer vacation, and second, from the anticipation of an essentially new school and new classmates. It’s also not hard to guess the consternation of school officials and administrators as they frantically work to finish the building renovations and get ready for the upcoming school year.

Meanwhile, at the Twin Valley Middle School in Whitingham, work has begun on transforming that facility into the new Twin Valley High School. Next fall, it will be the high school students and staff who get the opportunity to walk through the doors of a refurbished and expanded facility.

While this type of transition can be difficult for some, it can also be said that the residents in Wilmington and Whitingham should be excited about where their schools are headed. This school year marks the beginning of a new phase in the Twin Valley school era. There has been a tremendous amount of work, energy, meetings, discussion, disagreement, votes, and money spent on merging the two towns’ school districts into one. In many ways, this school year signifies the culmination of more than a decade of effort to chart a new course for the two towns’ schools.

Yes, there is still plenty of work ahead. But, much of that effort will be to make sure the building renovations are completed on time, and the new school buildings function as billed. The hardest work, the creation of first Twin Valley High School and ultimately a uniform two-town school district, is in the rear-view mirror.

It’s been a long road to get to this point, and everyone involved in the process has played an important role. They should take a minute to reflect on September 16, when the new Twin Valley Elementary School welcomes its first students, and feel good about all that has been accomplished.